Router Build Mk 1

[hoppo]

How much Z travel have you aloud for? Its unusual to fit the motor on the spindle plate

Hi Clive, total travel on the z axis is just over 3 inches. Or 8 cm. this was the most I could realistically squeeze out of it due to the length of the z axis rails, also I wanted to keep the bearing blocks as far apart as possible to maintain rigidity of the z axis in both the x and y planes. I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the regrets I had was buying the rails and ballscrews and designing my build around those, rather than designing my build and ordering bespoke lengths to suit. Hindsight hey? Still 8cm is more than adequate for my needs at the moment.
I have loads of spare travel on the z axis ballscrew so I figure I could expand the z axis travel if needs be by adding longer rails which would hopefully not be too much of an expensive upgrade.
I can't remember the exact reason I chose to fit the stepper motor on the moving face of the z axis. I have been working on this design and build for best part of 5 years I reckon now. I'm sure there was a valid reason but can't for the life of me remember why. I put it down to age. I'm off to rack my brain and figure out what I was thinking at the time and what my reasoning was!